A blog about teaching children sports, motor skills, fundamental movement skills, coordination, balance, how to play together, how to enjoy an active lifestyle, the way to let the pent-up energy all out.
We are a multi-sports and exercise programme that originated from Australia and now on the sunny, warm shores of Singapore.

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Sunday, 12 October 2014

Developing Gross Manipulative Skills in Preschool Children

by a contributor (Teresa Cheong from Lifebridges Communications)Movement comes naturally to children. But chlldren need a strong foundation in fundamental movement skills to enjoy games and sports as adolescents and adults. Besides locomotor skills, children need to master gross manipulative skills. What are gross manipulative skills?Gross manipulative skills involve learning how to handle and control objects with the hands. These include throwing, catching, kicking, striking, bouncing and underarm roll.

Throwing a ball well requires

techniques that can be taught

Why are gross manipulative skills important for preschool children?•They help a child develop object control and dexterity of the hands. A child first learns how to throw a ball, but the throw is aimless. The child then progresses to throwing the ball accurately in a specific direction.•Object control gives a preschooler confidence to participate in future sports activities that utilise ball skills such as softball, cricket and basketball.•Preschool children with good manipulative skills have better sense of balance, coordination and movement.Development of gross manipulative skills by agePreschool children develop manipulative skills progressively. Compare your child’s development against this simplified checklist:By Age OneYour child is able to grasp, pick up small object with one hand, and release it.By Age TwoYour preschooler can:•Throw ball overhand using two hands while standing •Catch large bounced ball against the body with straight arms•Kick a stationary ballBy Age Three Your preschooler shows more manipulative skills and is able to:•Use outstretched arms to catch a large ball thrown to them at short distance •Rotate the trunk/body to increase force for throwing•Kick a stationary ball forcibly•Execute an overhand throw (important object control skill used in sports activities such as baseball and basketball)

Kicking is fun but mastering

it requires practice

By Age Four Your preschooler does all the above and performs additional manipulative skills:•Roll a ball underhand •Toss a ball underhand •Bounce a ballBy Age FiveYour preschool child shows increased dexterity of the hands:•Catch a small ball with outstretched arms•Throw ball high up into the air and catch it most of the time.•Kick stationary ball with force and in required direction•Kick moving ball while running•Execute overarm and underarm throws with force and in required direction•Bounce a ball accuratelyIf your child is clumsy in executing any of these manipulative skills, try creating unstructured play activities using objects of different sizes and textures such as balls, scoops, frisbees and plastic crockery. You can sharpen your child’s manipulative skills by enrolling in a proven preschool exercise programme such as Ready Steady Go Kids.